The Bright and Dark Sides of Life
by PinkestPoodle
Summary: Life isn´t a piece of cake...especially not if your names are Tony Dinozzo and Kate Todd...Chap 6 is up! Dark sides are coming... very mean...well... you gotta read to find out
1. Chapter 1

**The Bright and Dark Sides of Life, Part 1**

DISCLAIMER: I don´t own NCIS or any of the characters. I don´t make any money with this and won´t try to. I promise. But honestly looks to the big and very important guys, if you guys worry about that, I wonder w… never mind...shutting up

PAIRING: TATE, and maybe (I guarantee NOTHING) GABBY

A/N: Alright, this is my first English story that will have more than only a few thousand words. Therefore I divided it into a few parts (Okay, maybe I did that to leave you with mean cliffhangers HEHEHEE). The title might seem a little wrong in the beginning (as there are hardly really dark sides) but that will change. Anyway, reviews and critique are always more than welcome (Other people might survive by air and love – I need to know what you guys think about my stories LOL)

A/N 2: On a more serious note: I never planned to mix this story with my personal experiences, worries and thoughts. But as I´m writing about an international youth camp in this part, I thought up a few girls coming from Germany, just like me. It seemed to be the easiest way (The other language I learn is Latin). The point is that we – especially some of the younger ones – of course have to deal with our past. I went to England with a youth group two summers ago, and we had, unfortunately, a lot of trouble. In this story, I try to explain how we – or at least I – feel about it (I think a lot about our history, especially recently, because I´m going to go to Canada on a student exchange next year). I hope it doesn´t ruin the story.

"This was your fault!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"I´m not discussing that!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Abby watched her friends with an interested look on her face. Kate and Tony were fun to watch whenever they had one of their arguments – and that was practically always.

"Do you guys know that there are some frogs in the middle of Asia that fight with their partner before making lots of cute little baby frogs?"

Tony and Kate immediately became silent and glared at her.

Kate turned to Tony, pointed at him, and said dangerously calm "It WAS your fault!"

She turned around again, and, before Tony could even try to answer, rushed out of the lab.

"Alright, what was your fault?" Abby asked more than just slightly amused. During the past two years, the usual arguments between Tony and Kate had become her personal cheer-me-up-machine.

"Uhh…" Tony groaned "Gibbs is a little mad with us"

"How mad?"

"Mad enough to send us babysitting."

Abby giggled "Babysitting? What have you guys done?"

"I have no idea, but Kate claims that it has to be my fault."

"And what exactly do you mean by babysitting?"

In that moment, Gibbs´ head appeared at the door "DiNozzo!"

"Yeah boss…"

Tony slowly left the lab, making a face like a rock fan on a Britney Spears concert.

"You have one hour to pack whatever you need." Gibbs said matter of factly, looking from the very pissed looking Tony to the even more pissed looking Kate.

"You´ll need the usual camping stuff." He continued, but stopped when he recognized the sudden change of expression on his agents faces.

He sighed "Please don´t tell me neither of you has ever been camping."

Getting no answer, he knew that he had hit the bull's eye. Great. "Just take something comfortable you could wear when going camping or climbing… or both."

"I´m afraid I have nothing to wear." Kate stated, seeing her last chance to get out of this.

"Don´t be ridiculous, Katie." Tony grinned.

"Stop it! Both of you! This is an ORDER, understand? You go home, pack, drive to the Canadian border and become group leaders of an international youth camp for ten days. While doing this, you will check on the other group leaders because one of them might have bought navy weapons and might try to bring them outside the US. That´s all. Oh, and I expect you to behave like adults. That goes for both of you. Now move!"

"Okay." Kate and Tony immediately responded in unison.

"Good."

Kate was the first one to reach the elevator. The doors were already closing when Tony was on his way.

"Kate…!" he had no wish to use the stairs "Hold it, please!"

A grin appeared on Kate´s face "Ha!"

The doors closed and Tony stopped, about a meter away from the elevator "Uh, you´re gonna pay for this, Katie."

He ran down the stairs quickly to be the first one to reach the car. Kate seemed to have forgotten about her car being without wheels at the moment. Not having a garage does that to you. That had been the reason why Tony had picked her up for the last few days, too - and was the perfect chance to have his little revenge.

When Kate came out of the NCIS headquarter, she automatically went to the place where she usually parked her car. When she recognized the empty space, she smacked her head. Great, she had to drive home with Tony after she hadn´t hold the elevator for him. She wondered what Tony would do to torture her, like singing, when a very familiar looking car crossed her.

"DiNozzo! Don´t even make the try!" she shouted and ran after the car "TONY!"

The car stopped and Kate sighed.

She opened the door and quickly took a seat. The danger that Tony would finally decide to drive home without her was too high.

"Ha!"

Kate remained silent. She couldn´t force herself to say "sorry" or "thank you".

They reached Kate´s home and Tony turned to her "Shall I pick you up in… let´s say 40 minutes?"

Feeling guilty for being so unfair before, she gave him a smile "That would be very kind. Thank you."

She left the car, wondering why it always ended this way. With her feeling guilty because no matter what a pain in the ass Tony was being, he never became really mean. Well, maybe that wasn´t true. He could be mean. But it was usually her who said or did things that were meant to hurt the other one.

"Ouch!" Kate had been looking to the ground while thinking and ran into her door.

Shaking her head, she opened the door, turned on the light and made her way to her wardrobe.

"Alright..." she sighed.

This case was so not going to be fun. Kate knew that she didn´t get on with children and teenagers. Not because she didn´t like to be with kids, but because she never knew the right things to say. It was hopeless.

When she was almost done with her packing, her mobile phone rang.

"Yes?"

"Hi Kate, this is Abby."

"Abby! What´s the matter? I hope you´re calling to tell me that Tony´s and my horror trip is being cancelled?"

"Sorry, no. I´m calling because Tony called Gibbs and Gibbs said I should call you…Umm, the point is: Tony wanted to know whether or not he had to take a tent with him, but they have group tents there, so just in the very unlikely case that you have a tent you wanted to take with you: No need."

"Tell me you´re kidding!"

"Huh?"

"We´re going to sleep in tents for ten days? In GROUP TENTS?"

"Yup. Listen, I have to go, McGee needs my help. Have fun!"

"Abby? Abby? I don´t believe this…" Kate angrily threw her mobile phone on her bed, on which it began to ring again.

"Yes!"

"It´s Tony. I´ll be at you place in a few minutes."

"Okay." Kate sighed. "I´m just saying bye bye to my bed and the roof above my head."

Again, Kate threw her mobile phone on her bed and changed into comfortable clothes.

Kate looked out of the window and saw Tony who had just arrived and now jumped – yes, jumped – towards her door. She couldn´t help but smile, her partner seemed to look forward to the camp. No surprise, she thought, he´s a kid himself!

But it was part of his undeniable charm, how she admitted to herself, and went to open the door.

Tony gave her a serious look "Are you ready for the ultimate trip to hell?"

Kate burst out laughing "Tony, sometimes you really have your moments."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Tony asked, puzzled.

"You´re looking forward to this, aren´t you?" Kate smiled.

When Tony didn´t answer but continued staring at her, she pointed at her window.

"If you wouldn´t look forward to the camp, you hardly would have jumped like a little boy."

Blushing, Tony asked "Can I help you with your things?"

"Yes, thanks."

She watched Tony bringing her things into the car, an amused smile on her face.

"What?" Tony asked, recognizing her smile.

"I don´t know." Kate shrugged "It´s kinda cute, y´know, how you´re looking forward to being in the middle of nowhere, sleeping in a tent and so on. I never pictured as someone who´d enjoy such things."

"Cute." Tony said to himself when he placed Kate´s stuff next to his own.

"What did you say?" Kate asked after she had locked her door and was now on her way to Tony´s car.

"I just wondered how you managed to pack a bag as huge as yours when you´ve got nothing to wear for camping."

"Yours is bigger."

"Only because I have the entire tech stuff McGee gave us."

"Whatever."

They drove off to 10 days youth camp and a few surprising developments neither of them had ever thought of as possible, but right now, Kate wondered about the showers at the camp and Tony wondered where the next McDonalds was – he hadn´t eaten in 3 hours…

"Honestly, Kate, why do you think this camp is going to be a bad thing?" Tony asked some time and 2 cheeseburgers later.

Kate thought for a moment "Let´s just say I can imagine nicer things than sleeping in tents and being with stubborn teenagers – with lots of stubborn teenagers."

"Hey, you´re with me every day. It can´t be that hard."

"Good point. Doesn´t change the tent thing, though."

"Have you never dreamed of sleeping in a tent? In the middle of the forest? The stars shining over you…" Tony had a dreamy expression on his face.

Kate raised an eyebrow, not really believing that there was actually a romantic side of Anthony DiNozzo. She watched him for a moment. He seemed to be serious. This was spooky.

Tony recognized Kate watching him and immediately came up with something to shatter the picture "Of course it´s only nice if you´re not alone in that tent." He gave her an ambiguous grin.

"That´s so you." Kate´s face fell when she said that and mentally slapped herself when she recognized that she had done "it" again.

This "it" were the moment when she thought that there was actually something more to Tony than his usual childish, sexist behaviour – something more she lo… liked. But somehow Tony always managed to ruin these moments and made her feel stupid and angry by doing so.

Kate bit on her lips and remained silent for the next hour.

"We have to think about what we tell them." Tony broke the silence.

"Huh?"

"We´re supposed to be youth group leaders from DC. We´re both teachers at an elementary school. Ohhh…"

"What "ohhh"?" Kate asked, having a bad feeling when she remembered how delighted Abby had been when she had created their new identities.

"Seems like you´re my wife, Katie."

"We are married?" Kate´s mouth dropped open.

Still half looking at the papers in his hand, half paying attention to the traffic, he answered "Yup."

"Have you figured out a way to kill Abby yet?"

"Okay, we´re Mr and Mrs Miller, we´ve been married for 3 years, have no kids yet, and love to be group leaders…"

"Argh…"

"Smile, honey, we´re there."

"Sure, sweetheart."

They gave each other an ironic smile and left the car.

A red-haired young woman recognized them and greeted.

"Hi, you must be Anthony and Caitlin. I´m Ally and the guy over there is Geoff."

"Hi, nice to meet you, and please call us Tony and Kate."

"Okay. I´ve heard a lot about you."

"Oh really?" Kate asked with a smile on her face, noticing that this woman could lie right into your face without blushing the slightest bit.

"Yeah, a girl in the last camp – what was her name? I can´t remember, anyway, she told us a lot about you guys."

Tony gave her the same smile Kate had given her before "My wife is really great with kids."

"Uh, honey, that´s not true. He´s exaggerating, you know, he´s much better with them."

"I see. I´m sure you want to see your tent and unpack?" Ally asked them.

"That would be great." Kate´s smile was still the same and Tony had the impression that it had just frozen.

"You guys have a tent for yourselves. Well, actually we have only tents for two. We used to have bigger group tents, but there´s a camp with smaller kids this weekend and so we gave them to them because the group spirit is even more important to young kids – but why am I telling you? Come on, I´ll show you everything. The kids will arrive in about 2 hours."

Kate and Tony went after Ally and gave each other a look. Ally couldn´t be trusted.

They followed her to a small tent standing at the very end of the camp.

"Here we are. When you´re finished with unpacking you can help us to welcome the first kids, okay?"

"Sure."

The agents entered the tent. After they had made sure that Ally had gone, Kate took her mobile phone and called Gibbs.

"Gibbs? This is Kate. We´ve just arrived at the camp."

"Anything important yet?"

"Maybe. One of the other group leaders lied right into our faces. She´s strange. We´ll keep an eye on her."

"Good."

"Umm, Gibbs? Could I have a quick word to Abby?"

"What makes you think I´m with her?"

"Music in the backround."

"Okay, hang on a second…" Gibbs turned around. "Hey, Abbs, Kate wants to talk to you."

A grin appeared on Abby´s face "I bet so."

Raising an eyebrow, he held the mobile phone into her direction.

"Umm.. I´m busy." She giggled and quickly turned towards her computer.

Gibbs shook his head "Abby´s busy, Kate."

"Yeah, like hell. Tell her I´m gonna kick her ass."

"Umm…okay." Gibbs wondered why Kate would kick her best friends´ butt, but considering that his whole team was crazy from time to time, he didn´t ask any further.

"We´ve to unpack, I´ll give you a call in the evening." Kate said and hung up.

Abby was still giggling, but immediately became serious when she recognized Gibbs´ look.

"I shall tell you that Kate, I quote, is gonna kick your ass. Why is that?" He had a bad feeling about it, as it needed quite a bit to make Abby become girlish.

"Uh, was she… I mean, was she really really pissed off, or just a bit?" Abby asked.

"Abbs!"

"Alright, alright. Gibbs, there might be something I forgot to tell you. It´s nothing that bad, I just couldn´t resist it."

"Could you just tell me what?"

"I made them husband and wife."

Gibbs groaned "Tell me you´re kidding."

Abby made a face and hid behind her computer "No…?"

"Do you think, do you HONESTLY think they´ll behave like adults when you make them a married couple? I told them not to behave as if they were in kindergarten, but now I can be sure they´ll do exactly that. Thank you, Abby!"

Meanwhile, Kate was making a few things clear to Tony.

"This is my side of the tent. You cross this line you die, understand?" She stated and pointed at the bigger side of the tent.

"Why do you get the bigger side?" Tony asked, more amused than annoyed.

"Because I´m the girl." Grinning, she added "Or do you want to tell me something, Tony?"

"Don´t think so, HONEY." Tony repeated, expecting an annoyed answer. To his surprise, Kate only continued to unpack and said nothing.

After a few minutes, Kate spoke again "Ready to go?"

Tony nodded "Do you know the program for today?"

"Nothing special. The kids will unpack and after that there will be a few games at the fire. The real program starts tomorrow." Kate left the tent without waiting for Tony.

Quickly catching up to her, Tony gave his partner a questioning look "Kate?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

Kate sighed, turned around, and looked him straight into the eyes "No, I´m not okay. Not at all. Can we go now? We have a job to do." Without another word, she continued walking into Ally´s direction.

"Okay…" Tony followed her. Before they reached the other ones, he grabbed Kate´s arm "Do you want to talk about it later?"

"No!" Kate snapped, giving him another look which he couldn´t define.

Tony whispered, just before they reached the other group leaders "Think about it."

With the brightest faked smile possible, Kate ignored Tony and greeted Ally and Geoff.

"Hey, has anyone arrived yet? You must be Geoff. Nice to meet you."

"Hi… So you guys are the famous Millers. The kids love you." He smiled.

"Oh, let´s just say they don´t have to deal with us every day." Tony laughed.

Tony and Kate exchanged a look, which the other ones misunderstood and laughed.

"I guess we have to welcome the kids now. Geez, they´re older than I thought…" The surprised Kate said when she saw three girls coming towards her.

"Of course. This is an international camp. Didn´t you read it? It was all in the papers… They´re all between 14 and 18 years old."

"Sure." Kate smacked her head "Where have I been with my thoughts!" Kate was angry with herself. What a stupid mistake! She would have to be more careful.

Tony smiled "Hi, welcome to the camp. I´m Tony."

"Hi." One of the girls greeted. "I´m Edda."

The girls seemed to be a little shy. The girl next to Edda was younger than her, blonde and staring at the ground. The other girl seemed to be the eldest of them, and also seemed to find the ground extremely interesting. The fact that they didn´t speak obviously made Edda feel uncomfortable.

"These are my sisters, Alena and Luisa." She continued.

Now the group leaders and agents recognized her accent. That explained a lot.

Kate gave Edda an encouraging smile "Hi, I´m Kate. Where are you and your sisters from?"

"We´re from Germany." Edda looked at her sisters "Could you guys also say something, please?"

The younger one gave her sister a look "Wieso denn?" _"Why?"_

"You´re being rude, Luisa, speak English." Edda growled.

Luisa sighed and said "Hi, I´m Luisa."

Kate thought that this would be even more difficult than she had expected.

Now Alena spoke "Edda, your English is goo… better."

Edda ignored her.

"Errr…Girls, I´ll show you your tents." Kate interrupted before the sisters could start a fight.

"Who of you is going to share a tent with someone else?" she asked further.

Edda gave her an ironic smile "That would be me."

"Okay, your tent is over there." Kate pointed at a tent about 50 meters away. "We all meet up in an hour at the fireplace, okay?"

The girls nodded and Kate went to welcome other teenagers.

"Na dann bis später." _"Well then, see you later."_ Edda said to her sisters and took her things.

Kate reached Tony and gave him a sceptical look "This is even harder than I thought."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Tony enjoyed being a group leader. The kids were all great – at least those he had welcomed.

"Do you know whether or not there are other kids that aren´t native speakers?"

"There´s one girl from Austria. The other ones are from England and Ireland."

"I wonder how that will work. Luisa and Alena seem to have difficulties with speaking English. "Kate worried, raising and eyebrow.

"We´ll find out in about 30 minutes."

Kate nodded "We will."

They spent the next 30 minutes with welcoming kids. Finally, they met up with Ally and Geoff.

"Huh. That was quite a bit of work." Kate was exhausted.

"Has everyone arrived?" Tony asked, playing his role that perfect that Kate wondered whether he wasn´t acting.

"Yup. No problems this far. The kids are all waiting at the fireplace – we shouldn´t let them wait." Geoff pointed at the group of kids sitting at the fire. He looked at a girl and boy and sighed "Alright. The problems begin right now."

"That´s Edda!" Kate recognized the brown-haired girl, who was angrily discussing something with a boy.

Not waiting for the others, she quickly made her way to Edda. "Do we have a problem?" she asked.

"I don´t, but he obviously has, and I won´t accept it!" Edda was furious; she turned to Kate, looked back at the boy, and looked back at Kate. "He doesn´t even listen to me, AND he has no right to judge me, or my sisters, or my whole country!"

Kate was speechless. She just stared at Edda and didn´t know what to say.

But the boy Edda had been arguing with did "Why should I listen to your excuses?"

"I´m not apologizing for anything! If you would listen to me, I would tell you about my home country. I gladly would. But you obviously are either to arrogant or have too less brain to listen to me! It´s so easy for you to say what we did and to blame us, isn´t it? You have NO idea how much we work against racism, how much especially the young ones have to deal with the past!"

"Edda…" Kate tried to make her calm down a little.

"What!" she snapped, but almost immediately apologized "I´m sorry. I never intended to be rude, I just can´t stand it when someone who doesn´t even know the year of the beginning and the ending of World War 2 insults me. Of course, terrible things happened. I completely understand if someone who was a soldier in that war or lived in that time is prejudiced, but… I can´t change who I am. And I can´t change where I was born. And I wouldn´t want to. Our country has a very dark history when it comes to the 20th century, yes, we´re guilty of the most disgusting crime in history, but everyone who went to my school once or to any other school or town, that isn´t the point, the point is that the past is very present to us. It´s some kind of unwanted shadow we have to deal with. It makes us careful. It makes us try to prevent racism in every possible way. I heard him making fun of it…" Edda pointed at the boy "… and I told him that in Germany you could end up in jail for something like that. We´re very sensitive when it comes to the very few people who think that Hitler was right. I don´t want to say that there are none, because it would be a lie, but there are such a lot of people who work very hard in their free time to make things clear to people who aren´t interested in our history, who fight racism, that it´s just not fair to make fun of it or to say that all Germans should be in jail." Taking a deep breath, Edda went away into the forest.

Sighing, Kate turned to the other three adults and the kids. It was a very uncomfortable silence, which Kate decided to break.

"Alright guys, I´m going to talk to Edda, and you should have a talk as well. Maybe it would help us if Alena and Luisa told us something about their lives in Germany and about their home country in general?"

Tony, Ally and Geoff nodded and Kate followed Edda.

The young girl had sat down at the beach of a nearby lake. She stared at the water and wondered whether she had done something wrong.

"Are you okay, Edda?" the young woman that had welcomed her and her sisters asked. Her name was Kate, if she remembered correctly.

"Sure. I´m just thinking."

"About what?"

"I´d rather not talk about it. I´ll only say something I will regret later. That happens to me from time to time, just like at the fire."

"You were angry."

"Yes, indeed. I´m still angry, but right now I worry about my sisters. I might be a year younger than Alena, but… I think you know what I mean. I shouldn´t have let him make me angry. Don´t misunderstand me, but I´d really appreciate it if I could have a moment for myself."

"Okay, but do you promise you´ll join us later?"

"I don´t know…" Edda made a face, feeling very uncomfortable.

Kate gave her an encouraging smile "See you then."

Back at the fire, Kate was happy to recognize that the others had managed to build a small group of kids with whom they were now discussing about history. Unfortunately not everyone had joined the group.

"Hey, well, what are you talking about?" Kate smiled and sat down next to Tony, as she was supposed to be his wife.

"How´s Edda?" A boy Kate didn´t know yet asked.

"She´s okay, still angry though."

Tony also smiled "Okay, now you Luisa and Alena. Tell us something."

The sisters gave each other a look, then Alena as the elder one spoke "But our English is not as good as Edda´s."

Another girl laughed "Hey, don´t worry."

"Okay… What do you want to know?"

"Why don´t you begin with how you usually spend your spare time?" Ally asked, forgetting to talk slowly.

"Excuse me?"

"Uh, I´m sorry Alena. What do you do after school? Which sports are popular?"

"Hmm… Soccer and riding are popular. We have another school system, we can´t decide what we want to learn at school. After school, which is at about 1.15 pm, we go home and do whatever we want to do. Sports, meeting friends and sometimes even doing homework." Alena grinned.

Kate tried hard to stay awake, but after some time her eyes became heavy and she couldn´t follow the discussion anymore. The day had been too exhausting.

Looking at his watch, Tony decided that it was time for the kids to go to bed. "I would really like to discuss with you until you fall asleep right here, but we have a program tomorrow that says "Breakfast at 8.00 am.". So you better go to bed now."

"I´ll see whether or not Edda is already in her tent. Who´s sharing a tent with her?"

The girl that had encouraged Alena earlier raised her hand.

"Good. Come with me and try to talk to her, okay? She might feel a little lonely."

She turned to Tony "I´ll give my brother a call. His new girlfriend – what´s her name? – Abigail was injured by some woman and I want to make sure she´s alright."

Tony somehow managed not to grin. "Okay see you later, honey."

After she had made sure Edda was in her tent, she went into the forest and called Gibbs "Hey Gibbs, it´s Kate."

"Hey, anything new?"

"No, unfortunately not. This group leader thing is a full time job." She sighed.

"You´re not a group leader, SPECIAL AGENT Todd, you´re a NCIS agent."

"Of course."

"Call me when you´ve got news."

"Okay." Kate hung up and went to her tent.

Tony was already lying under his blanket "What did Gibbs say?"

"You mean expect for reminding me that I´m an agent and not a group leader? He said I shall call him when we´ve got news."

"Oh great."

"Hmmm…" Kate took a big shirt out of her bag. "Tony, if I only think you might watch me while changing into this, I´m so gonna kill you."

Tony just turned around, mumbling something that sounded like "Outrageous".

Blushing a little bit when she remembered how she was singing under the shower, she said "Very funny, DiNozzo." And quickly changed into the shirt.

After some time, they both lay with the face to the tent and though they were tired, neither could sleep.

"Kate, are you awake?"

"Yeah."

"When we arrived today you were upset, remember?"

Kate smiled without knowing why. She had forgotten about it yet. "It was nothing."

Tony knew she would only get angry if he asked further, so he accepted what she said and changed the subject. "You did well today."

"So did you. The kids love you."

"Yeah, well, they´re not kids anymore." He grinned "That´s the reason why the girls like me – and some of the boys."

"Sure…But honestly, it was harder than I thought but it wasn´t a bad thing.

"No it wasn´t. Have you figured out a way to find out more about Ally and Geoff yet?"

"I think we have to wait until one of them or both go away without the group. Then one of us has to follow them."

"We can´t do much except for that, can we?"

"I´m afraid no."

"Are you tired, Kate?"

"I was. But right now I feel very much awake. What do you have in mind? I hope it´s none of your usual night activities, because if so I´m gonna kick your ass – and worse places."

"You´re not going to kill me this time?"

"No, that one´s getting old. Now, spill."

"I just thought that though we´ve known each other for almost 2 years now, we hardly now anything of each other. I mean except for the usual stuff. This would be the chance to change that…Of course only if you like to tell me more about you."

"Wow." Kate turned to him "Spoken like an adult. I´m impressed, Tony."

"Do you think I´m always like that?" he asked and sounded more hurt than he wanted to.

Kate thought for a moment and eventually decided to be honest to him "Actually no. There are surprisingly many moments I do think there´s much more to you than a chauvinistic pain in the ass, but you´re quite good in ruining those moments. Ummm… who gets the first question?" she asked, eager to get away from the it topic.

"Ladies first."

"Okay. What are you afraid of?"

Tony made a face "I´m afraid of big dogs if I don´t know them… And I´m afraid of ending up alone." There was a short break in which they just stared at each other, then Tony looked away and asked "What about you?"

"Hmm, let´s see… I think I´m afraid of screwing something up in general: my job, family, boyfriends and so on. I don´t want to disappoint people. Your turn."

"Which movie makes you cry?"

Kate rolled her eyes. Of course! Tony had to come up with a movie question! "Titanic. What about you?"

Tony mumbled something and blushed.

"What? C´mon Tony, it can´t be that embarrassing."

A little louder, he said "When Harry Met Sally"

They asked and answered questions and laughed a lot until the early morning hours. When Kate clock rang at 6 am - as group leaders they had to be showered and dressed when the first kids woke up – she just wanted to sleep a little longer.

"Kate? Wake up!" she heard Tony´s voice from somewhere far, far away.

Without opening her eyes, she mumbled "Leave me alone, Anthony."

"Kate." He took away her blanket "Sun is shining!"

Slowly, Kate brought herself into a sitting position "Dammit, I think I slept on a stone or something."

"I can give you a massage later if you want." Tony offered.

"Thank you, that would be great." Kate rubbed her eyes "I´m going to have a shower. "

Tony grinned "You should hurry before one of the boys gets weird ideas."

"What´s that supposed to mean?"

"Let´s say the showers don´t hide much if you want to see something."

"I´m running!"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! They mean very much to me and encourage me a lot!

So here we go with the second chapter, I hope you guys like it and keep writing reviews! ;-)

There´s a story behind the name "Emma", well at least for me ;-)…Umm, never mind, enjoy!

When Kate re-entered the tent, she seemed exhausted "I guess that was a new world record in showering…" she sighed and let herself fall onto her sleeping bag.

Tony gave her a look "May I inform you that you just lied down on your PDA?"

"Oh crap!" Kate jumped and took her beloved PDA "I hope I didn´t totally kill her"

Giving his partner another look, an odd one, he questioned "Her?"

Kate blushed "Well Abby kinda gave my PDA a name…Emma."

"Explains a lot." Tony mumbled, not loud enough for Kate to understand.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh it´s nothing…"

"It better be… C´mon now, we have to prepare breakfast for lots of hungry teens."

They went to what was called "The kitchen" but wasn´t more than a big tent with lots of benches and tables – and of course lots of food.

They were pleased when they recognized that they had were the first ones to be there and obviously the food had just been delivered by a man who greeted them and disappeared.

"What do we do now?" Tony whispered, hoping Kate would have a clue what to do with these tons of food.

"I have no idea" she whispered back, just as Ally and Geoff entered the tent.

"Morning you two! Slept well?" Ally greeted.

"Sure, thank you. What about you guys?"

"The same, thanks. So let´s get this started." She took a deep breath "We´re so lucky to be here with teens, aren´t we? So we only have to put the things onto a table…"

"Yeah, that´s quite nice, indeed." Tony smiled, happy about the fact that the woman had just told them what to do.

After they had prepared everything there was still half an hour left till the hungry teenagers would be there for breakfast.

"Alright, we´ll check if everyone´s gotten up." Tony stated and took Kate by her hand.

Before she could angrily snap at him, she remembered that Tony was supposed to be her husband and decided to give him a bright smile instead.

They checked the tents and said their good mornings, until they passed the tent Edda was sharing with the Irish girl named Marilyn.

Marilyn seemed quite worried, but when she recognized the group leaders, she immediately smiled and said good morning.

Kate, being suspicious, raised an eyebrow and asked "Good morning, is there anything bothering you?"

"Umm, no…well, actually, I haven´t seen Edda this morning. When I woke up she was already gone."

Kate gasped "But she was there with you last night, wasn´t she?"

"Yeah, she was. We chatted till sun began to rise…"

In that moment, a brown-haired girl appeared, sat down next to the tent and stated "I HATE running… Good morning, by the way."

Looking at the girl angrily, Kate snapped "Where have you been young lady?"

Edda seemed surprised "I went running, I´ve gained some weight recently and have to get rid of it."

"Why didn´t you tell anyone? We were worried something might have happened to you." Tony jumped in before Kate could repeat.

"I´m sorry about that. I didn´t think it would be such a big deal. It won´t happen again. Can I get dressed now?"

"Alright, don´t be late for breakfast, Edda."

Edda nodded and then turned to Marilyn, who gave her a slap on the arm "I was worried about you! Do that again and I´ll give you hell!"

When Tony heard Edda answer "Ew, is that supposed to be Irish humor?" he knew the girls would be just fine. Grinning, he turned to Kate "Y´know, she kind of reminds me of you."

When Kate didn´t answer but continued walking, he decided to drop it. Kate seemed to be really mad at Edda.

After everyone had eaten and Kate was convinced that Tony couldn´t afford a flat because he spent all his money on food, the program began with some games.

The 20 teenagers and their 4 group leaders reached a beautiful little place, without any trees and bright green grass. After a few minutes of discussing, they agreed on playing soccer first.

"Marilyn and Richard build one group and Rachel and Stephan another. You pick one girl, and after that one boy, and after that again a girl, okay?" Ally explained.

Marilyn, who had become friends with Edda yet, glared at Richard who her new friend had been arguing with in the evening and raised her voice. "We want Edda in our team!"

At once, Richard turned to her and said angrily "No we don´t!"

"Yes, we do!" She insisted.

Edda sighed "It´s okay Marilyn. Just take someone else. I´m tired of this."

After they had finished their games it was time for them to explore the forest and the nearby lake in groups of five. Kate let out a sigh of relief and turned to Tony.

"Do we want to go on a walk as well, hon? I would like to get to know the territory."

Tony agreed and they went off. At least it seemed like it. Actually they were hiding near the tents of Geoff and Ally.

"One of us has to search for the weapons." Kate whispered, telling her partner the obvious.

Tony grinned "Thank you for clearing that one for me."

"Very funny DiNozzo. What are you waiting for?"

Tony glared at her "I knew this would happen, Katie."

"Bite me."

"In your dreams."

"That´s what people call nightmares, Tony. Now move, we don´t have all day."

After 20 minutes, Tony came back and looked shocked. "Kate , I knew we couldn´t trust that woman."

"Any weapons!" She asked, alerted.

Tony shook his head "Nah, but black leathe…"

"I don´t wanna know!" Kate interrupted, a disgusted look on her face.

"But what I found in Geoff´s tent might be interesting: No weapons, but descriptions and prices of weapons. I took photos and sent them to Gibbs. I just hope he figured out how his mobile works…though…he knows how to use it as a telephone, so not all hope is lost."

"Amen to that." Kate grinned.

"Care about a walk?" Tony suddenly asked.

Kate just looked at him, totally caught off guard by his question. There was a silence between them for almost one minute that seemed more like an hour to the two agents, but then Kate mentally gave herself a kick and nodded. "Why not?"

She was amazed by the sudden change of atmosphere. Just a few moments ago there had been the usual talk and now none knew what to say. It was more than just strange. Kate knew that Tony thought something similar. She could tell by the way he was looking to the ground trying not to look at her. Whatever, she thought, not willing to think about it any further because she was afraid of where those thoughts might lead to.

"So, Tony…" she began. "Where are we going?"

"How about the lake?"

"Fine by me."

They walked next to each other in silence and neither of them could deny that they liked to be near the other one. But of course, that didn´t mean that they didn´t try.

Kate sat down on the small beach and threw a stone into the water. Without thinking, she said "Y´know it´s beautiful here. What a pity we´re on a job." As she recognized what she had said, she blushed and stared at the water. Fearing a rather sexist answer, she waited for him to speak.

But instead making a comment, Tony sat down next to her and smiled "My thoughts exactly."

"Really?"

"Yes. Why are you asking?"

Because this is just…oh dammit, she thought but shook her head "Never mind."

Again, neither of them spoke. Then Kate realised how close they were sitting to each other. Their shoulders almost touched. Kate blushed again and looked at Tony.

He looked back at her "Why are you blushing?"

Crap, Kate thought not sure what to say or to think. When she started to make up her mind about what she felt for Tony, what she wanted to feel, and what she was supposed to feel, she was stopped by Tony who gently kissed her on her lips.

Confused, but with a racing heart nevertheless, Kate began to kiss him back.

When they parted, they looked at each other, holding hands and smiling.

But suddenly, Tony´s face darkened "Kate, call Gibbs and get the guns. I´ll try to start a conversation."

Kate turned around, absolutely not happy about the sudden change of atmosphere, and recognized a man vanishing into the forest, having a huge box with him.

"I´m on it! Give me 5 minutes!"

"Hurry, I don´t know how long I´ll be able to make him talk to me!"

…This was kinda short, yes, but while I write the next chapter why don´t you think about this:

…What happens when Kate and Tony follow the man with the weapons?

…What happens if Tony meets an old enemy who swore revenge?

…Will they be able to have a lasting relationship and hide it from the others?

…How will Gibbs react when a sobbing Abby tells him something about two of his agents that could endanger their lives even more?


	3. Chapter 3

The Bright and Dark Sides of Life...

Chapter 3

... Bright sides - but for how long?

A/N: Thank you soooo much for your reviews! I´m happy you enjoy this story and keep reviewing - it means heaps to me! I´m sorry I wasn´t able to update sooner, but I had some problems at school and my exchange year is coming nearer and nearer... and I´m just kinda hyper when I think of it. Kinda kept me away from my laptop. Plz continue reviewing!

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It had been a while since Gibbs had gotten the call from Kate. He checked his watch again. Backup should have arrived about an hour ago at the camp. Why was this taking so long? He started being nervous.

"Hey, master of coffee!" Abby handed him her mobile phone. "It´s Kate. She says neither your phone nor your mobile is working."

Gibbs took it, slightly wondering why it always happened to be his tech stuff that didn´t work "You got him?"

"Kinda."

"What´s that supposed to mean?"

"Well, let´s say it this way: He did that job himself..."

"Huh?"

"Well, dealing with weapons turns out to be pretty unhealthy if you have no idea how to use them right. They´re trying to put him back together."

"Sounds painful."

"Yeah, indeed."

"Are you guys alright?"

"Yep. We´ll be back tomorrow." Kate hung up and turned to Tony. "We better pack our things and leave, we have quite a distance to drive."

In that very moment, a small group of teens came back to the camp and greeted them "Hi!... Oh wow, what happened here?" A blonde girl pointed at the police officers and paramedics.

Tony took a deep breath, but Kate was faster "We´re not really group leaders. This is Special Agent DiNozzo, I´m Special Agent Todd. NCIS. We just solved the case that is the reason we are here."

"So you´re not married?"

"Nah.", Tony informed the teenagers, blushing a little bit.

"Gee, what a shame. You make a hot couple." Edda stated disappointedly.

"Errr, guys... I´m afraid Tony and I have to pack our things and leave. Our boss isn´t one of the patient ones and we better move our butts now. As much as I´d like to stay here..." She gave Tony a look "We don´t really have a choice."

"Does that mean we have only two group leaders left?" Luisa spoke up.

"The three new guys have just arrived."

"Why do we get three new group leaders!"

"Let´s say Geoff is kinda... not available right now..."

------------------

Not much later, Tony and Kate were sitting in their car and drove back to the headquarters.

Kate sighed "I never thought leading a camp could be fun."

"I did." Tony smiled. "I told you it would be a great thing."

"You didn´t."

"Whatever."

They continued driving in silence and Kate was getting nervous. About the kiss. She wanted to have things cleared between them but she couldn´t force herself to bring the topic up. She wasn´t sure whether or not she wanted to know how Tony felt about her, as she was afraid to be nothing more than one of many girls to him. When she started biting her nails, Tony gave her a confused look.

"Since when do you bite your nails?"

"I only do when I´m extremely nervous abou... Never mind." Kate cursed herself for not being able to just shut up for once.

Tony stopped the car and looked at her "What´s the matter?"

Kate felt more than uncomfortable. She didn´t know a way to get out of this.

Before she was able to figure out a way to make Tony drop it, he spoke "Thinking about the kiss?" it was almost a whisper.

Kate just nodded.

"Me too." he admitted. "We should talk about it, don´t you think?"

Kate nodded again, looking him straight into the eyes.

Instead of talking, both of them leaned towards the other one and started kissing again.

When the kiss ended Kate slowly opened her eyes and saw Tony smiling "I guess we agree there..."

"Definitely." Kate mumbled and started kissing him one more time.

--------

Alright, that was beyond short and isn´t even to be considered as a chapter but my stupid programme won´t let me safe it and continue it later, so I´ll just post it now. Gotta learn for tomorrows exam...gahhh.

To make things a little more mean: What do you think happens when the starting relationship of Tony and Kate comes to an "end" because of the circumstances and things come out that even leave Gibbs help- and speechless?

I´m trying to put a rush on the next chap that is (hopefully) gonna be way longer!


	4. Chapter 4

The Bright and Dark Sides of Life

Chapter 4

A/N: Again, I´d like to thank you for your wonderful reviews! I´m sure I said it before but I´m really really happy that you enjoy the story! Hope ya like this chap as well!

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"Good morning, boss!"

"A wonderful good morning , boss!"

Gibbs gave his two agents, who had just returned, a puzzled look. They seemed to be in an extraordinarily good mood.

"You are late." He simply responded. "Make sure Abby gets everything you found and get back to work."

Kate jokingly saluted and went to bring Abby the evidence they had collected. She was a little nervous, as Abby instinctly knew when something was going on. She and Tony had agreed on keeping their little secret to themselves because they had no idea how big boss Gibbs would react if he found out - and his rule number 12 was quite a fear factor. Kate wanted to tell Abby, but she knew she had no choice. This way it was safer and better for everyone - even if it meant almost dying because of desperately wanting to share the news with the best friend. She just hoped Abby wouldn´t get suspicious.

"Hi Abbs, we´re back!"

Abby turned around and grinned "Hi ya!"

"Here are the evidence. Gibbs told me to...is something wrong?" Kate stopped when she recognized Abbys look.

Abby shrugged "I just thought you´d kinda kill me for making you and Tony a married couple."

Kate mentally gave herself a kick. Gee, she had completely forgotten about that one! "Nah, I decided that one day I´ll have my revenge..."

"Am I supposed to be afraid now?" the goth joked.

"That´s up to you..." Kate decided to play along.

------

Tony knew they had agreed on going on like before when being at work, but the fact that this included his Kate flirting with other co-workers gave him a hard time. So he decided to throw some pieces of his sandwich at her.

"Ewww!" Kate turned around and , before she started to snap, gave him a little smile "Dinozzo! Don´t you ever do that again! I swear, if you ruined my skirt I´m gonna kick your sorry butt to Timbuktu!"

"Uhhh, Katie, are we feeling a little aggressive today?"

McGee, sitting between them, started to duck and gave them nervous looks. If he wasn´t careful those two would very likely finally bond against him once again.

"Dinozzo, Kate! Cut the crap while you still have a job! You scare McGee!" Gibbs shouted from his place and made the three of them jump.

They got back to work - well, until Tony got a message on his PC "I was serious about the skirt part"

He grinned and typed "So was I about the feeling aggressive thing."

Tony looked at Kate, who was writing something with a cocky smile on her face. Seconds later he got a message saying "Sorry hun, didn´t sleep too much tonight..."

Before Tony could write back, Gibbs suddenly shouted through the bullpen "Kate, Dinozzo, McGee! Get your things!"

"What´s the matter, boss?" Kate asked when jumping inside the car just in time before Gibbs drove off.

"A murdered marine. Dinozzo, you know this." Gibbs gave Tony an outprint, giving him a concerned look.

Worried, Kate looked around to see Tony´s face becoming pale "It can´t be! He´s supposed to be dead!"

"He obviously isn´t."

Kate grabbed for the paper and looked at a photo showing a paper with a text saying "I´m back, this time the italian boy is gonna pay! Gregori "

"What does that mean? Tony?" She tried not to panic, but Tony could tell from her look that say was way beyond worried.

He tried his best to calm her down, the less she knew she safer she was. This was about Gregori. Against Gregori, Ari actually seemed to be a kind, respectful and ordinary person. "It has something to do with a case we once had. Let´s just say this guy kinda doesn´t like me too much. Nothing I couldn´t handle."

Kate and McGee waited for Gibbs to speak, but he remained silent and drove on.

"What case was that? The name Gregori somehow seems familiar." McGee asked, curious about who Tony had pissed off this time.

"Don´t think so, Probie. NCIS was pretty eager to keep this case top secret."

"But..."

"No "but" McGee." Gibbs interrupted "You and Kate will only keep the police officers busy while Tony and I get the rest done. I don´t want you two to get involved here, did I make myself clear?"

McGee nodded and gave Kate an questioning look. She just stared at her hands and said nothing.

"Kate?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

Kate looked up with an expressionless face and answered "Sure, boss."

When they arrived at the crime scene, Gibbs and Tony disappeared into the forest where the victim was found and the other two ones tried to make clear to a fat guy that NCIS was taking over this case and that he had no choice but to accept it.

This behaviour of Tony and Gibbs just wasn´t normal. Kate glanced towards the part of the forest where they had disappeared, wondering and worrying about what could have happened. It had to be something horrible, otherwise Gibbs wouldn´t have insisted on McGee and her not getting involved into this case. Shaking her head, she turned around to explain things to the fat guy again and prayed that she was exagerrating.

-------

Gee, short one again, I know... But it was such a nice cliffhanger that I just couldn´t resist...


	5. Chapter 5

The Bright and Dark Sides of Life

Chapter 5

... Do you feel the rain starting slowly!

A/N: You guys totally rock Thank you sooo much for those lovely reviews! I really really appreciate it! Hope ya continue like this - I surely like it ;-). Here´s the next chapter, hope you enjoy it!

------------------

"Kate?" Tony listened, but got no answer.

"Kate!" this time he almost yelled. Where could she be? Her flat wasn´t that big.

"I´m over here." the young woman´s voice suddenly sounded from the living room´s direction.

Tony turned around and opened the door to see his girlfriend sitting on her sofa, dressed in her pyjama, eagerly typing something into her laptop.

"What are you doing there?"

"Research." Kate answered and continued typing.

Tony was starting getting suspicious "About what?"

"Wouldn´t you like to know!" a smile appeared on her face as she playfully pretended to close her laptop. She saw his face getting dark and serious when he sat down next to her and took her laptop.

"Hey! That´s mine!" Kate complained and tried to get it back. Unfortunately for her, Tony was way stronger than she was and so she finally gave up and gave him a look "What´s wrong with you?"

After taking a deep breath, Tony spoke "You did research about Gregori, didn´t you?"

Kate bit on her lips. Now, she had a feeling that she shouldn´t have done it though it had felt right just a few seconds before. Worrying about your boyfriend and curiousity does that to you, she thought before she admitted "Only because I was worried... and maybe a little curious."

"Damn it Kate, we told you not to."

His face was unreadable. This fact worried Kate even more than this mysterious guy, she was used to looking into his eyes and knowing in what kind of mood he was. "I´m really sorry Tony, but you two didn´t even give me a real reason why I am to stay out of this. I´m worried. I don´t want anything bad to happen to you." the last sentence wasn´t more than a whisper.

Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered back "I know that. I don´t want anything to happen to you too, and that´s why I want you to stay out of this... Please, Kate." he added when she shook her head.

"Tony I can´t do that. If he is as dangerous as you say, I just can´t accept not knowing about what is going on!"

He smiled "You´re cute."

"I´m not cute. I´m worried." she mumbled and tried to find a comfortable position in his arms.

"Back to topic, Kate: You have to stay out of this!" Tony stated once more, hoping Kate would eventually get how serious he was about this. He was afraid of what might happen to her if Gregori found out about her. And if she, in addition to being his girlfriend, knew about Gregori´s identity, she was as good as dead. He would never let that happen. Never.

"I told you I can´t."

"Please Kate..." he begged but was stopped when Kate placed her fingers on his lips.

"Give me one good reason why I should let my boyfriend, who I´m very much in love with and have a relationship with since - oh wow - about one day, go chasing someone who´s probably some psycho mass murderer and on top of that after this certain boyfriend."

"I know you don´t want to hear this Kate, but he´s more than just a little dangerous. You don´t know this guy like Gibbs and I do. We´re very likely the only ones who have a decent chance of getting him instead of him getting us. If you got involved into this, you´d be an easy target, no matter whether or not you were trained to protect the president."

"So you´re telling me you and Gibbs only have a decent chance of getting, which I understand as killing thinking of Gibbs, that guy and that he has higher chances of "getting" the two of you? Was that meant to calm me down?"

"We got him once, so I´m sure it´s gonna be harder this time but it´s not impossible."

"Very encouraging, Anthony."

"With getting involved into this, you endanger all of us even more. It actually is that simple: As long as he doesn´t feel threatened he keeps writing his warnings, but as soon as he feels threatened...well... kinda "booooom"."

"I don´t really have a choice, do I?" Kate was tired of arguing.

"Katie..."

"But you have to promise me something: be very careful and never challenge your luck! I don´t want to lose you. I can´t lose you. Promise you won´t get killed or something..."

Tony didn´t like to promise such things, especially because it was ridiculous when being NCIS Special Agents, but he nodded and said "I promise."

------

_4 months later_

_Gregori was still on the loose, sending his warnings, which were getting more and more cruel. Gibbs and Tony tried to figure out a way to get him while Tony and Kate still had their relationship going on without anyone knowing. Unfortunately, things with Gregori were getting serious for Tony. Gibbs figured out a way he didn´t like at all to protect his young agent´s life..._

_TBC TBC TBC TBC..._

I´m sorry it wasn´t longer again, but the fact that my laptop refuses to work as I want it to and I´ve got my exams coming kinda keeps me from writing longer chapters... Hope that´ll change in the easter holidays...

To give ya something to wonder about till I update the next chap:

What could Gibbs´ idea be?

What does this idea have to do with the hints I gave ya earlier?

HAVE FUN ;-)...


	6. Chapter 6

The Bright and Dark Sides of Life

Chapter 6

...you gonna see

A/N: Well well, some ideas about Gibbs´ idea weren´t bad... but they aren´t as mean as the one I have in mind... you´ll read in this chapter ;-)... Thanx again for the reviews! Can´t get enough of them LOL !

IT´S GETTING MEAN THIS TIME!

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"Dinozzo!" Gibbs yelled through the bullpen.

Slightly annoyed by the interruption - he´d been typing a rather ambigious message to Kate - Tony turned around "What´s the matter, boss?"

"There´s something we have to discuss. Now." Months ago, the whole team would have been curious about what Tony had done this time but nowadays nobody even raised the head. It probably was about this Gregori again, and everyone, except for Kate, had gotten over it.

Tony left and joined Gibbs. Kate raised her head and looked after the two men. Maybe it was because of the fact that she felt sick that she had a bad feeling about this. She couldn´t explain it, it had become a usual thing that Gibbs and Tony spoke alone, but this time she had a strong feeling that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

------

Gibbs closed the door and sat down next to Tony "We have to talk. And I doubt you´ll like it."

"Are you going to fire me?" Tony joked and wondered what was so important that Gibbs wanted to talk to him in private. It didn´t seem like it was about the Gregori case. Maybe it was, but somehow it seemed to affect Gibbs personally.

Gibbs shook his head "It´s about Gregori. Not about the case, but... Tony, you know he has tried to kill you before and you had more luck than brain that you´re still here talking to me. The director spoke to me and he made clear that Gregori has improved his "skills". In other words: We haven´t heard anything of him lately and I´m worried he might try again. What am I babbling about? We KNOW he will try again, but this time we have no idea what his sick mind made up. Therefore it´s way too dangerous for you to stay here."

Tony gave him a look "So you ARE going to fire me!" he couldn´t believe it.

"No. That wouldn´t stop him from killing you."

Having no clue what his boss intended to tell him, Tony raised and eyebrow "So what are you trying to tell me?"

"I´m trying to tell you that we have to be... drastic... kind of." Gibbs still wasn´t sure he wanted to tell him what he had to do. It was the only possible way to protect Tony´s life, which didn´t make it easier to him, especially when he thought about what effect it would have on his team. He didn´t even want to think of it.

"Drastic? Somehow I don´t like how you make that word sound." The younger agent was getting nervous. This was so not his straight-to-the-point boss that it worried him.

"Okay." Gibbs sighed "I´m going to have to tell you eventually anyway: The director and the other agencies agreed that it´s way to dangerous for you to stay here or to get a new identity, as we don´t know how much he knows and if he´s even in our computer systems."

"Gibbs..." Tony interrupted impatiently.

Gibbs was silent for a moment, then looked his agent straight into the eyes and said "They think it´s the safest way to fake your death and hide you somewhere in the middle of nowhere."

Being speechless, Tony looked at him. He had to be kidding. They couldn´t do this to him. To Kate. To them. Gibbs had no idea what the said meant for him. Should he beg him to convince the director and the agencies to drop it? Should he tell him about his and Kate´s relationship? No. It would get Kate into trouble. Into much trouble. They would probably give her details of his "death" to make her grief and sadness appear more real - and not even Gibbs could do anything about it. "You cannot be serious."

"I´m afraid so. Believe me, I tried everything to find another way. But there´s none. Only 7 people know about the plan, including the director and me. It IS the safest way."

"I´m not playing along."

"You have no choice, Tony..."

-----------

Kate felt sick. She wondered why, as she couldn´t remember having eaten anything wrong. It had been like this for almost a week now and she was starting to be in a very bad mood, as Tony stated. Maybe it was a good idea to see a doc and get some medicine. Kate sighed. Going to a doc wasn´t such a big deal, she knew that. But she had been afraid of all kinds of doctors, especially dentists, since she was a little girl and therefore only went there when absolutely necessary.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked when she saw her friend grimacing once again.

Kate gave her a sarcastic smile "I couldn´t be better."

"You should really go and see a doc. You know, there are these hinky guys that had this illness beginning with a stomachache..."

"Gee, Abbs, you sound like Ducky."

"Has anyone told you that you´re in quite a bad mood when feeling sick?"

"Yeah, Tony did."

"C´mon, you can´t be that afraid of docs. Do you want to keep this stomachache until you die?"

"Nah, it´ll be gone in a few days, I´m sure."

Abby took her friend by the hand and pulled her out of the lab "You´re going to see a doc - and if I have to tie you up and get you there. Oh, and even if Gibbs is gonna fire us because of leaving without permission by the great one."

Kate finally surrendered and drove to her doctor.

She skipped through a few magazines while waiting and thought of Tony. She had never thought that their relationship would actually work this well. Feeling so loved and understood ,so safe and comfortable when being with him. She smiled. She knew Tony would be there for her whenever she needed him. Thinking about it, Kate realized she had never been this happy and in love before.

"Miss Todd?"

Kate stood up and followed the nurse into the next room on the right side, where the doctor waited for her.

"Miss Todd, nice to see you again..." he grinned, knowing Kate avoided doctors in every possible way.

"Nice, yeah." she smiled. The doctor was a nice guy - he simply had the wrong job.

"What problem do we have, Miss Todd?"

"I´ve been feeling sick without any reason for a week now. I mean really sick. And I can´t remember having eaten anything wrong."

"Excuse my question, but are you having a boyfriend?"

"Huh?" Kate was confused "Yes, why are you asking?"

"Have you thought about the birds and the bees?"

Kate´s eyes grew wide. She hadn´t thought of that. "Well actually I´m late... Looking at it now, more than late."

"Then congratulations might be in order... wait a moment, we´ll check." he went out of the room for a minute and left a stunned Kate.

"Wow." she whispered and carefully touched her belly "Maybe-hello little Tony..."

----

I TOLD YOU IT WAS GOING TO GET MEAN... To be continued asap!


End file.
